Women outnumber men in the workforce nationally

For the third time in history, the nation’s workplace fields more women than men.

As of June of this year, women accounted for 79.64 million jobs, roughly 300,000 more than men who totaled 79.34 million positions, according to a new study released by Indeed Hiring Lab.

The study revealed a sizable jump in the job disparity as women took on 208,000 more jobs than men during a four-month period in 2026. Additionally, in the past 12 months, 95% of positions were filled by women.

“This gap in male-female labor force participation rates [has] steadily declined over time,” said Laura Ullrich, director of Economic Research for Indeed, who wrote the study.

In Idaho, the population of women is about 961,100 or 49.7%, according to the most recent data from the Idaho Department of Labor. Men make up 50.3% of the population at 973,162. About 46% of Idaho’s labor force is women.

Women are employed mainly in industries such as health care, education and service in Idaho, and the top 10 employers in the state are comprised of three health organizations, three educational organizations, two technology companies and two retail service companies.

The 10 employers are, from most employed to least: St. Luke’s Health System, Walmart, Saint Alphonsus Health System, Battelle Energy Alliance, Micron Technology, Boise State University, Albertsons Companies, West Ada School District, Kootenai Health and the Boise School District.

Twice before nationally, women have outpaced men in employment figures. The last time happened in 2020 just before the COVID-19 pandemic. However, the trend was reversed following lockdowns, which showed to hit women in the workforce harder than men.

The first time working men fell behind working women occurred in 2008 when the Great Recession impacted what was then considered the male-dominated workplace.

The recent shift in gender workplace figures is substantial; whereas men outnumbered women in the workforce by more than 24 million six decades prior, research has indicated a steady decline since. Though men still outnumbered women by more than 7 million jobs during the 1990s and by roughly 5 million in 2005.

Increases in health care, education and even hospitality jobs, industries dominated by a female workforce, are factors Ullrich believes have led to the overall shift, as are a reduction in male-dominated tech, business and manufacturing industries.

“I think we’ve just returned back to what it would have been if COVID never happened,” Ullrich said. “I actually think this switch to a level that is permanent was coming before COVID.”

Further research also strongly supports the numbers indicating female dominance in the workplace. Nearly nine of 10 jobs created during President Trump’s current second term have been filled by women, according to data supplied by economist Justin Wolfers.